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Spanish racer Raul Fernandez will stay with the Trackhouse Aprilia crew for the 2025 and 2026 MotoGP seasons.
Fernandez has signed a brand new take care of the US-based crew in a transfer that comes as little shock given robust hints dropped by each rider and crew administration in current weeks.
Nonetheless, the length of the deal – a two-year dedication, which is the norm for manufacturing unit offers however not for satellite tv for pc groups when their riders aren’t immediately factory-contracted, as Trackhouse’s will not be in 2025 – is revealing, reinforcing that the passion over Fernandez’s potential on the facet of each the crew and Aprilia is real.
The information, introduced throughout MotoGP’s summer season break, comes simply forward of Fernandez’s anticipated debut on 2024-spec manufacturing unit equipment on the subsequent spherical of the championship at Silverstone, leaping from final 12 months’s machine onto the identical latest-spec bike that his present team-mate Miguel Olivera already has.
A goal for Aprilia’s ranks ever since he put collectively one of the vital spectacular rookie Moto2 seasons ever seen, the Spaniard initially stepped as much as the premier class with KTM for a rookie marketing campaign by the tip of which the 2 sides appeared solely too pleased to go their separate methods.
Switching to Aprilia equipment within the RNF Racing squad for 2023, issues didn’t go significantly higher for him within the rocky realities of the Razlan Razali-run crew’s closing season – however he was capable of climate the collapse of the outfit on the finish of the 12 months and has shortly constructed himself a robust status with its successor Trackhouse.
He appears to be lastly beginning to stay as much as his Moto2 potential in 2024 by usually being forward of team-mate Oliveira regardless of the mismatch in bike spec – although Oliveira shone final day out on the Sachsenring.
“I’m tremendous pleased to stay with Trackhouse Racing MotoGP,” Fernandez stated in a crew press launch. “That’s all we needed; this new mission, with [team owner] Justin [Marks] and [team manager] Davide [Brivio], is nice they usually have constructed an excellent crew.
“I’m delighted to listen to their plans for the long run as they’ve a transparent thought of what they wish to do and for me, from the start of the 12 months, it was my precedence to attempt to keep within the crew. On the finish, I get to be right here for the subsequent two years which leaves me very glad however, after all, this additionally means we now have quite a lot of work to do.
“We could have the total manufacturing unit materials in 2025 and 2026, clearly nice information and proper now, we’re gearing as much as begin with a brand new bike in the course of this 12 months, so we now have to make good use of this to organize for subsequent 12 months as nicely.
“We have to keep calm, perceive every little thing concerning the bike and see what we now have to do for the 2025 season – it is rather vital.”
Whereas one facet of the field would possibly now be sorted, it’s much less clear what is going to occur on the opposite facet of the storage as Trackhouse mulls its choices.
Believed to be leaning closely in direction of Australian racer Jack Miller as a substitute for Miguel Oliveira, the teaser for Tuesday’s announcement had appeared to trace that it might be a brand new rider who Trackhouse was making ready to unveil fairly than a contract extension.
Ought to that information nonetheless come earlier than the subsequent spherical of the championship at Silverstone, Miller’s anticipated transfer to the American crew and the upcoming announcement that Italian racer Fabio Di Giannantonio will stay with the VR46 Ducati crew for subsequent 12 months would assist repair in place the remaining locations on the grid by opening a path for Oliveira to now discover his approach onto a Pramac Yamaha for 2025.
POTENTIAL 2025 MOTOGP RIDER LINE-UP
Ducati: Pecco Bagnaia, Marc Marquez
Gresini Ducati: Alex Marquez, Fermin Aldeguer
VR46 Ducati: Fabio Di Giannantonio, Franco Morbidelli
KTM: Pedro Acosta, Brad Binder
Tech3 KTM: Enea Bastianini, Maverick Vinales
Aprilia: Jorge Martin, Marco Bezzecchi
Trackhouse Aprilia: Raul Fernandez, Jack Miller
Yamaha: Fabio Quartararo, Alex Rins
Pramac Yamaha: Miguel Oliveira, Sergio Garcia or one other rookie
Honda: Joan Mir. Luca Marini
LCR Honda: Johann Zarco, Takaaki Nakagami or Ai Ogura
Unconfirmed riders in italics